A crowd-funded ‘patriotic’ board game about reclaiming Estonia after a Russian invasion has become a hit in the Baltic state, feeding on popular fears about the geopolitical ambitions of the country’s eastern neighbor.

Named ‘Comrade Pu conquers Estonia’ – the monicker is a popular
local nickname for Vladimir Putin – the board game features a
recognizable caricature of the Russian president on the front of
its box, though it does not mention him by name.

In a variant of Snakes and Ladders, the players have to ‘fight
back’ from the Western border of the state, which became
independent from the Soviet Union in 1991, with the help of dice.
Instead of ladders, players pull out cards that may help or
hinder their progress. “Pu wins the Nobel Peace Prize” sets the
player one step back, while “Kazakhstan is prevented from joining
Russia’s side” lets them get one ahead.

“The idea of the game was born during the events of last
spring in Ukraine,” Taavi Emajoe told the Russian-language
Delfi website in Estonia. “We hope people find the game
humorous. There is nothing unethical about political
satire.”

Emajoe, who was working on another game with two other young
designers, before the spark of inspiration, says the game
wouldn’t have worked without Putin.

“We chose Putin not to create animosity towards him, but
because he is such a multi-dimensional political figure. Most of
the ideas in the game are derived directly from his
persona.”

After easily passing the €1,500 (US$1,734) funding requirement on
the local version of Kickstarter, the game has now hit the
shelves, retailing at €23.45 ($27).

The manager of Tallinn’s leading Apollo bookshop, Liis Paas, told
Delfi that the game has been “attracting a heightened level
of attention” from curious shoppers. However, the manager
did not elaborate whether interest had transformed into sales.

Estonia is historically sensitive about being invaded by the
Soviet Union in 1940, following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and
local politicians still frequently evoke the specter of a Russian
invasion, despite the country being a member of NATO and the EU.

Meanwhile, satirical board games about Putin – often based on
Snakes and Ladders – have previously appeared in Russian and
Western media following a whirlwind year for the Kremlin, mostly
as playful illustrations, not actual games to be played with
pieces and dice.

Satirical board games have enjoyed a mixed history, with acclaim
depending largely on the players’ political orientation. The US
board game War on Terror – which satirizes US foreign policy and
forces players to temporarily don balaclavas as they face
American wrath – is still popular, while the pre-WWII Juden Raus,
in which German players had to “round up Jews” and
“push them off the board” enjoys a different sort of
notoriety.